{"id":829170,"date":"2026-07-28T13:55:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T13:55:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/829170\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T13:55:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T13:55:16","slug":"kevin-durant-has-blunt-response-to-lebron-james-ring-chaser-critics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/829170\/","title":{"rendered":"Kevin Durant has blunt response to LeBron James \u2018ring chaser\u2019 critics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After a long wait, LeBron James finally signed a two-year, $8 million deal with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/au\/nba\/philadelphia-76ers\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Philadelphia 76ers<\/a> on July 24. The contract includes a player option and represents a massive pay cut from the nearly $53 million he made with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/au\/nba\/los-angeles-lakers\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> last season.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>At 41, James is joining a loaded Sixers roster that already features Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and the newly acquired Jaylen Brown. In the process, the shocking figure of his contractv contract is what set off the &#8220;ring chasing&#8221; talk. Critics online labeled the move as a desperate chase for a fifth title rather than a genuine basketball fit.<\/p>\n<p>James&#8217; long-time rival and friend, Kevin Durant, completely disagrees with the critics. Posting on Threads, Durant fired back at the ring-chasing narrative, arguing that fan criticism has turned toxic.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He pointed out that people are quick to judge a player they do not even know personally. His best point came when a fan asked him if joining a stacked team counts as ring chasing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/au\/nba\/houston-rockets\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Houston Rockets<\/a> forward\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/BleacherReport\/status\/2081955922318852237\" rel=\"nofollow\">wrote<\/a>, \u201cEverybody in the NBA is either chasing rings, shot attempts, or money.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">KD keeping it real about LeBron&#8217;s decision \ud83d\udcaf<\/p>\n<p>(via easymoneysniper\/Threads) <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/tin5MmiunN\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/tin5MmiunN<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/BleacherReport\/status\/2081955922318852237?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">July 28, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>KD famously left a 67-win <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/au\/nba\/oklahoma-city-thunder\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> team to join a 73-win <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/au\/nba\/golden-state-warriors\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Golden State Warriors<\/a> squad back in 2016. Because of that, he knows exactly what it feels like to face the same criticism James is dealing with today. Durant literally told one critic to quit overthinking it and just watch how the season plays out.<\/p>\n<p>Time is running out for the 41-year-old James, but he wants a fifth ring to get within two of Michael Jordan&#8217;s six. Not only James, but every star in the NBA is chasing something, whether it is a championship, more shots, or a bigger paycheck. So, James choosing a ring over money is not a scandal.<\/p>\n<p>More NBA news:<\/p>\n<p>                            <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a long wait, LeBron James finally signed a two-year, $8 million deal with the Philadelphia 76ers on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":829171,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-829170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=829170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/829171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=829170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=829170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=829170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}